If traffic information is to be up-to-date, a comprehensive and reliable data acquisition system is needed. However, financial constraints mean that this requirement cannot be satisfied for much of the road network. For this reason, road traffic engineers are making increasing use of intelligent vehicles as mobile sensors, so called "floating cars", to determine the traffic situation. In modern vehicles, the data available include not just vehicle speed but also a wide variety of other variables. These can be acquired in digital form from the vehicle's data buses. With their help it is possible to develop better traffic information and new telematics services which contribute to increasing road safety and driver convenience. Together with partners from industry, BMW is working within the German MoTiV research program on the realisation of a field test in which this concept can be tried out. This paper provides an overview of the concept involved and of initial results. (A*)
Abstract